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Social justice

Maryknoll missioners around the world feel the impact of social injustice and see its effects in the communities were they live and work. Flowing from their ministries of presence and accompaniment, as well as from the concrete programs and projects in which Maryknollers participate, we engage in the hard work of identifying root causes of social and economic injustice. With a particular focus on the geographical regions where Maryknoll is present, as well as on structural or systemic injustice affecting women, children, indigenous peoples, migrants and refugees and people with HIV and AIDS, we join with others of like mind to identify potential pathways to social transformation and to move our world in that direction.

With great concern for the state of the U.S. democracy, eleven national and international Catholic social justice organizations sent the following statement to Congress on the occassion of Martin Luther King Day.

On November 20, 14 Catholic organizations, including the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, sent a statement to members of Congress regarding the Syrian refugee crisis and the need to welcome Syrian refugees.

Maryknoll recognizes the great importance of the publication of the executive summary of the Senate Intelligence Committee's report on the use of torture, which details terrible acts of horrific brutality.

International news agencies have reported in recent weeks that thousands of people in Myanmar who identify as religious and ethnic minorities and face severe restrictions inside the mainly Buddhist country have fled to the border with Bangladesh to escape fighting between the military and armed members of minority groups, only to be turned back by the Bangladeshi border guards. Faith groups in the U.S. were scheduled to deliver the following letter to Congress in early September in an attempt to halt a provision in a current defense authorization bill that would increase U.S. military cooperation with the government of Myanmar.

Maryknoll Sister Elizabeth (Claris) Zwareva, who represents Maryknoll at the United Nations, reports on the latest efforts at the UN to incorporated intergenerational dialogue in efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

Democracy in crisis-torn Venezuela is quickly eroding, as the oil-based economy crashes and people grow more desperate for food and medicine. The following article examines how Venezuela came to be in this crisis and how it is affecting the people from the perspective of el pueblo (“the poor”).

Darrin Mortenson, who serves as the migration fellow for the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, reports on his visit to El Paso, Texas, in July, where he met with some of the Maryknoll missioners who welcome and accompany newly-arrived migrants despite the rising risks and complicated political reality of the U.S.-Mexico “borderlands.”The following article was published in the September-October 2017 issue of NewsNotes.

The New Economy Coalition, of which the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns is a member, recently launched a new campaign called “Now We Own” to promote the importance of collective ownership in creating a more equitable and sustainable economy by highlighting examples of collective enterprises among its members.

After violent clashes between white supremacists and counter-protesters at a “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on August 12 left dozens injured and one woman, Heather Heyer, dead, there has been a much needed national discussion on racism, fascism and nonviolence.